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Page 4 The Point News February 28,1995
Brent Beery
It’s time to slow down on the party policy Dean Cole
I was driving along this weekend
when a car passed me, obviously ex­ceeding
the speed limit. At first, I
thought nothing of it and continued
on my way. However, I remembered
something I had recently heard. At
the last Tenants Association meeting,
Dean Cole told us that in the real
world, we would be responsible for
the actions of others.
Take, as an example, a townhouse
having a party. The residents invite
several friends, an amount that can be
contained within the townhouse. The
residents willingly, yes Jen, claim
responsibility for these people. How­ever,
what if fifty uninvited people
show up? What if the residents do not
let them in and tell them to go away?
What if those people then crack beer
cans and stand around out front of the
house? That’s right, the residents are
responsible.
Well, Dean Cole is a wise person.
If she said I was responsible for the
actions of others, it must be my duty
to stop this speeder. I passed him,
pulled in front of him and slowed
Jonathan Allen
down. Unfortunately, he seemed
unfazed. He simply passed me and
sped on his way. This began a game
of Leap Frog in which I passed him
and slowed down and he passed me
and sped up.
The whole activity reminded me of
another futile situation I had been in.
The last party at my townhouse at­tracted
a number of uninvited guests.
They stood outside and drank on the
path. I spent the evening going from
the front door to the back path asking
them to pour out their beer and leave.
However, just like with the speeder, I
had no real means, short of physical
force, to make them do what I asked.
I was powerless to make them go
away. But I digress, let me continue
my story about the speeder.
It began to appear that, as with the
partiers, I had no means of stopping
this speeder from speeding. Then
inspiration hit, a brilliant thought oc­curred
to me. As a society we should
create a body of people who could
enforce laws like the speed limit. We
could give them cars with sirens, uni­forms,
and, most importantly, the
power to stop and fine the speeder.
But wait, we already have those!
They’re called police! If we had
something like them on campus our
problems would be solved. We could
dress them in baby-blue and give
them big, black, phallic flashlights.
Wait until I tell Dean Cole about this!
Needless to say, I had found the
solution to my problem. I need only
find one of these police to stop this
speeder. Luckily, we must have
passed one because he came after us
with sirens blaring. In the immortal
words of Fletch, I thought, “Thank
God... it’s the police.” I found it
strange at first that he wanted to pull
me over but I realized he must to
thank me for helping him do his job.
Oh, but was I mistaken. “What was
going on there, son?” he asked.
“Well officer,That fellow was
speeding and I was trying to stop
him,” I responded.
“And were you successful?”
I explained to the officer I could not
stop anyone, but he could.
“I’m afraid not, son. I’ll have to
give the ticket to you for not stopping
him,” the trooper told me.
“But officer, if he is the one speed­ing,
shouldn’t he get the ticket?”
“Are you crazy, boy? If I went
around busting everyone who broke
the law, I’d be unpopular, everyone
would hate me. People would say
that the state is oppressive. So I’ll
have to leave the law enforcement to
you. Just use peer pressure or some­thing
like that. And if you don’t,
you’ll be the one to get in trouble.
At first this seemed a little strange,
but then I remembered what had hap­pened
at that party I was telling you
about earlier. At first we could not
control the people who were not our
guests but were loitering outside our
house drinking. When the R.A.’s
showed up, we thought our problem
was solved. However, that was not
the case. The drinkers were not rep­rimanded;
we were documented.
Again I reflected back on the words
of Dean Cole: Campus life here at St.
Mary’s College is just like life in the
real world. But Dean Cole, in the real
world, the cop would have given the
speeder the ticket, not me. Our soci­ety
created police to enforce rules like
those because common citizens have
no authority to do so. Peer pressure is
just not enough.
As a town house resident, I cannot
force someone to leave the path out­side
my house, I cannot stop them
from drinking there. Short of vio­lence,
I cannot force them to do any­thing.
I can only ask. If my party and
my guests are under control in my
house; I have upheld my half of the
“partnership.” Now uphold yours,
the people outside my house are
uninvited and unwanted, if they were
invited they would not be outside. I
have no power to make them go away.
Use your R.A.’s who do have this
power to disperse these people who
will not listen to me and are not my
guests. Do not use them to bust
parties where the hosts are the victims
of irresponsible drinkers who are not
their guests.
Those who lack responsibility and self-control should not party
I vividly remember the serene cam­pus
I visited in the summer prior to
my freshman year at St. Mary’s. The
people were friendly and down to
Earth, the water was calm, and the hot
sun brought a feeling of warmth.
However, when the wintry winds of
January and February sweep down,
the change is not only climactic. Tem­pers
flare and violence is prevalent in
an atmosphere sullied by the frustra­tion
of remembering months past
when it was warm enough to go out­side.
Just over a week ago, at an off-campus
residence which will remain
unidentified, a seemingly peaceful
party was shattered by an argument
which quickly escalated into fisti­cuffs.
What was the disagreement
about? One young man brushed
against anotheryoung man as he made
his way towards the door. The two
exchanged words, but were quickly
separated. A burning desire to cause
trouble brought the two face to face,
and as they began to draw nearer to
throwing punches, a very odd thing
happened.
A young lady in the crowd, for
reasons unbeknownst to any of the
spectators, took a swing at a seem­ingly
innocent bystander, starting a
fight which took several minutes and
tremendous manpower to bring to an
end. Just one day earlier, a student got
a noseful of someone’s fist in the
washroom at The Green Door.
These recent incidents are just two
examples of a string of fights and
near-fights which have happened in
the past few months. I really thought
that the days of muscle-bound jocks
butting heads were over when I gradu­ated
from high school, but apparently
we’re just not adults yet. I think that
its possible that these third-graders in
20 year-old bodies could use some
time in the comer. Certainly many of
them could benefit from a dunce cap.
I refuse to condemn all fighting, there
are certainly situations where throw­ing
a few punches can do some good,
but the fights that have happened re­cently
are senseless displays of both
egotism and foolishness.
In addition to the stupidity of the
fights, the participants seem to be
completely unaware of their surround­ings.
Take it outside. If someone is
generous enough to throw a party,
they shouldn’t be subject to having
their home destroyed by partiers who
just can’t get along.
Although I am positive that astute
members of the campus braintrust
would blame fighting, as they do all
other problems on and off campus, on
alcohol, beer does not seem to be the
chief culprit behind fighting. It is in
some cases, however, a contributing
factor. The solution is not banning
alcohol from parties, because, with­out
alcohol, parties won’t happen, but
fights will. The solution is not learn­ing
to drink responsibly either, be­cause
students don’t want to drink
responsibly. There may be no other
solution than making an appeal for
individual responsibility.
So, being the seeker of peaceful
resolution that I am, I am making an
appeal to the student body to accept
individual responsibility for their ac­tions.
The notion of individual re­sponsibility
transcends the issue of
fighting. It is something that needs to
be adopted by students to stop the
rampant vandalism of the past few
months. It stops students from steal­ing
each others’ wallets and car ste­reos.
It prevents people from destroy­ing
townhouses and from drinking
outside at block parties.
There’s nothing wrong with drink­ing
and getting a little crazy, unless
those crazy things infringe on other
people’s right to enjoy themselves.
Self-control is the single biggest
characteristic which differentiates
children from adults. I certainly have
not attained the highest level of self-control,
but if we all strive to control
ourselves just a little bit more, this
campus can be the warm place it is in
the summertime all year long.
C .C . H E R B S
The Cardinal's Cupboard
H e a lth Foods, S p ic e s,
Natural Herbs, Books,
Vitamins, Bath Herbs,
Natural Body Care
P ro d u c ts , E s s e n tia l St
Massage Oils all a t
Reasonable Prices.
10% OFF BOOKS FOR THE
MONTH OF MARCH
WITH THIS COUPON
(301) 8 6 2 - 1 9 5 5
Visit our new address:
San Souci Plaza
(0 6 M a cA rtfx jr Blvd
California. MD.
(Next t o Linda’s Mallmark)
ex p ect the u n ex p ected
THE
ELEPHANTS
TRUNK
Incredibly Cool
Gifts and Cards
Monday - Friday, 10-6
Saturday 10-5
Sunday 11-5
862-1818
We accept Visa, Master
Card, American Express,
Discover, and Personal
Checks

Page 4 The Point News February 28,1995
Brent Beery
It’s time to slow down on the party policy Dean Cole
I was driving along this weekend
when a car passed me, obviously ex­ceeding
the speed limit. At first, I
thought nothing of it and continued
on my way. However, I remembered
something I had recently heard. At
the last Tenants Association meeting,
Dean Cole told us that in the real
world, we would be responsible for
the actions of others.
Take, as an example, a townhouse
having a party. The residents invite
several friends, an amount that can be
contained within the townhouse. The
residents willingly, yes Jen, claim
responsibility for these people. How­ever,
what if fifty uninvited people
show up? What if the residents do not
let them in and tell them to go away?
What if those people then crack beer
cans and stand around out front of the
house? That’s right, the residents are
responsible.
Well, Dean Cole is a wise person.
If she said I was responsible for the
actions of others, it must be my duty
to stop this speeder. I passed him,
pulled in front of him and slowed
Jonathan Allen
down. Unfortunately, he seemed
unfazed. He simply passed me and
sped on his way. This began a game
of Leap Frog in which I passed him
and slowed down and he passed me
and sped up.
The whole activity reminded me of
another futile situation I had been in.
The last party at my townhouse at­tracted
a number of uninvited guests.
They stood outside and drank on the
path. I spent the evening going from
the front door to the back path asking
them to pour out their beer and leave.
However, just like with the speeder, I
had no real means, short of physical
force, to make them do what I asked.
I was powerless to make them go
away. But I digress, let me continue
my story about the speeder.
It began to appear that, as with the
partiers, I had no means of stopping
this speeder from speeding. Then
inspiration hit, a brilliant thought oc­curred
to me. As a society we should
create a body of people who could
enforce laws like the speed limit. We
could give them cars with sirens, uni­forms,
and, most importantly, the
power to stop and fine the speeder.
But wait, we already have those!
They’re called police! If we had
something like them on campus our
problems would be solved. We could
dress them in baby-blue and give
them big, black, phallic flashlights.
Wait until I tell Dean Cole about this!
Needless to say, I had found the
solution to my problem. I need only
find one of these police to stop this
speeder. Luckily, we must have
passed one because he came after us
with sirens blaring. In the immortal
words of Fletch, I thought, “Thank
God... it’s the police.” I found it
strange at first that he wanted to pull
me over but I realized he must to
thank me for helping him do his job.
Oh, but was I mistaken. “What was
going on there, son?” he asked.
“Well officer,That fellow was
speeding and I was trying to stop
him,” I responded.
“And were you successful?”
I explained to the officer I could not
stop anyone, but he could.
“I’m afraid not, son. I’ll have to
give the ticket to you for not stopping
him,” the trooper told me.
“But officer, if he is the one speed­ing,
shouldn’t he get the ticket?”
“Are you crazy, boy? If I went
around busting everyone who broke
the law, I’d be unpopular, everyone
would hate me. People would say
that the state is oppressive. So I’ll
have to leave the law enforcement to
you. Just use peer pressure or some­thing
like that. And if you don’t,
you’ll be the one to get in trouble.
At first this seemed a little strange,
but then I remembered what had hap­pened
at that party I was telling you
about earlier. At first we could not
control the people who were not our
guests but were loitering outside our
house drinking. When the R.A.’s
showed up, we thought our problem
was solved. However, that was not
the case. The drinkers were not rep­rimanded;
we were documented.
Again I reflected back on the words
of Dean Cole: Campus life here at St.
Mary’s College is just like life in the
real world. But Dean Cole, in the real
world, the cop would have given the
speeder the ticket, not me. Our soci­ety
created police to enforce rules like
those because common citizens have
no authority to do so. Peer pressure is
just not enough.
As a town house resident, I cannot
force someone to leave the path out­side
my house, I cannot stop them
from drinking there. Short of vio­lence,
I cannot force them to do any­thing.
I can only ask. If my party and
my guests are under control in my
house; I have upheld my half of the
“partnership.” Now uphold yours,
the people outside my house are
uninvited and unwanted, if they were
invited they would not be outside. I
have no power to make them go away.
Use your R.A.’s who do have this
power to disperse these people who
will not listen to me and are not my
guests. Do not use them to bust
parties where the hosts are the victims
of irresponsible drinkers who are not
their guests.
Those who lack responsibility and self-control should not party
I vividly remember the serene cam­pus
I visited in the summer prior to
my freshman year at St. Mary’s. The
people were friendly and down to
Earth, the water was calm, and the hot
sun brought a feeling of warmth.
However, when the wintry winds of
January and February sweep down,
the change is not only climactic. Tem­pers
flare and violence is prevalent in
an atmosphere sullied by the frustra­tion
of remembering months past
when it was warm enough to go out­side.
Just over a week ago, at an off-campus
residence which will remain
unidentified, a seemingly peaceful
party was shattered by an argument
which quickly escalated into fisti­cuffs.
What was the disagreement
about? One young man brushed
against anotheryoung man as he made
his way towards the door. The two
exchanged words, but were quickly
separated. A burning desire to cause
trouble brought the two face to face,
and as they began to draw nearer to
throwing punches, a very odd thing
happened.
A young lady in the crowd, for
reasons unbeknownst to any of the
spectators, took a swing at a seem­ingly
innocent bystander, starting a
fight which took several minutes and
tremendous manpower to bring to an
end. Just one day earlier, a student got
a noseful of someone’s fist in the
washroom at The Green Door.
These recent incidents are just two
examples of a string of fights and
near-fights which have happened in
the past few months. I really thought
that the days of muscle-bound jocks
butting heads were over when I gradu­ated
from high school, but apparently
we’re just not adults yet. I think that
its possible that these third-graders in
20 year-old bodies could use some
time in the comer. Certainly many of
them could benefit from a dunce cap.
I refuse to condemn all fighting, there
are certainly situations where throw­ing
a few punches can do some good,
but the fights that have happened re­cently
are senseless displays of both
egotism and foolishness.
In addition to the stupidity of the
fights, the participants seem to be
completely unaware of their surround­ings.
Take it outside. If someone is
generous enough to throw a party,
they shouldn’t be subject to having
their home destroyed by partiers who
just can’t get along.
Although I am positive that astute
members of the campus braintrust
would blame fighting, as they do all
other problems on and off campus, on
alcohol, beer does not seem to be the
chief culprit behind fighting. It is in
some cases, however, a contributing
factor. The solution is not banning
alcohol from parties, because, with­out
alcohol, parties won’t happen, but
fights will. The solution is not learn­ing
to drink responsibly either, be­cause
students don’t want to drink
responsibly. There may be no other
solution than making an appeal for
individual responsibility.
So, being the seeker of peaceful
resolution that I am, I am making an
appeal to the student body to accept
individual responsibility for their ac­tions.
The notion of individual re­sponsibility
transcends the issue of
fighting. It is something that needs to
be adopted by students to stop the
rampant vandalism of the past few
months. It stops students from steal­ing
each others’ wallets and car ste­reos.
It prevents people from destroy­ing
townhouses and from drinking
outside at block parties.
There’s nothing wrong with drink­ing
and getting a little crazy, unless
those crazy things infringe on other
people’s right to enjoy themselves.
Self-control is the single biggest
characteristic which differentiates
children from adults. I certainly have
not attained the highest level of self-control,
but if we all strive to control
ourselves just a little bit more, this
campus can be the warm place it is in
the summertime all year long.
C .C . H E R B S
The Cardinal's Cupboard
H e a lth Foods, S p ic e s,
Natural Herbs, Books,
Vitamins, Bath Herbs,
Natural Body Care
P ro d u c ts , E s s e n tia l St
Massage Oils all a t
Reasonable Prices.
10% OFF BOOKS FOR THE
MONTH OF MARCH
WITH THIS COUPON
(301) 8 6 2 - 1 9 5 5
Visit our new address:
San Souci Plaza
(0 6 M a cA rtfx jr Blvd
California. MD.
(Next t o Linda’s Mallmark)
ex p ect the u n ex p ected
THE
ELEPHANTS
TRUNK
Incredibly Cool
Gifts and Cards
Monday - Friday, 10-6
Saturday 10-5
Sunday 11-5
862-1818
We accept Visa, Master
Card, American Express,
Discover, and Personal
Checks